You're No God
by KorinMichelle
Summary: Sirius Black had known the Baiers since he was a child. They were a perfectly respectable pureblood family, maintaining their reputation even as their children rebelled. Luca Baier had always drawn his eye and he's finally realized why. Can he compromise his anti traditionalism and stay true to his heart, or will he sabotage his own happiness to spite his parents?
1. Chapter 1

Sirius Black spotted Luca Baier instantly; he always did. She was dressed simply in a black sundress and sneakers. Her chocolate brown curls were piled on the top of her head in a messy sort of bun, exposing an awful lot of her neck. Sirius swallowed a rather large lump in his throat at the sight.

She was standing away from her parents, arm in arm with her eldest brother Robin. He'd finished up at Hogwarts last year, and judging by the look on her face, she was extremely reluctant to leave without him. Robin ran his hand through his light brown hair and laughed as Luca punched him in the arm, her face screwed up in mock anger. But then her aristocratic features broke into a warm smile as she threw her arms around her brother.

Her parents were a little ways behind them, talking to their youngest daughter, Femie, who was already dressed in her Hogwarts uniform; her mother straightening her green and silver tie and smoothing her blonde hair. Sirius assumed Luca's other brother and sister must've said their goodbyes already.

Sirius tightened his grip on his trunk; he had to refrain from walking over to her. He couldn't give either of their parents the satisfaction.

"Oy! Sirius!"

He turned to see the familiar thin face and perpetual messy hair of James Potter bounding towards him. He muttered a quick "later" to his family, who weren't paying the slightest bit of attention to him, before hurriedly walking to his best friend.

"I have never been happier to see you, mate," he grinned.

"Same, brother, and I have the most _hilarious_ news for you." James helped Sirius lift his trunk onto the train before elaborating as they headed down the corridor, "Remus-you remember Remus don't you? He calls himself our friend? Well, anyway, the bloke went and got himself made prefect."

Sirius let out a bark of a laugh, "You have to be joking. All the trouble we've gotten him into and Dumbledore is going to just let that happen?"

"I reckon he thinks he's giving him authority to keep us in line."

"Merlin's beard, this is definitely a joke."

"Saw the badge. Not a joke. He's sitting in a compartment near the front with Peter, probably willing himself to blend into the seat so we don't make fun of him."

"Well what are we waiting for? S'no fun if we don't break his spirit."

"That was satisfying." Sirius tossed his feet up in Remus's recently vacated seat. He'd left to go to the front of the train for the prefect meeting when they'd left the station. "Poor guy, he's in for a rough year with us."

"No kidding. How was your summer then?"

"Rubbish. Glad to be back."

"That bad?" James looked sympathetic, but knew his friend well enough not to do any prying.

"Always. You?"

"Not too bad. Mum misses you. By the end of the summer I was sure she'd forgotten that _I'm_ her son, _not_ you. You'll have to come round for Christmas. How about you Pete? Good summer?"

"Great!" Peter chimed in excitedly, his round face lighting up at being addressed by James, "We went to Greece last month, it was amazing. I got a horrible sunburn though, can't seem to get rid of it."

"Yeah, that's obvious Pete," Sirius rolled his eyes. His friend was a violently deep shade of red, almost purple, under his thin blond hair. Peter might've been blushing, he couldn't tell, but he turned away embarrassed. Luckily, the food trolley appeared at that very moment to break the awkward silence threatening the compartment.

An hour or so later Remus had returned and the four of them had been chatting merrily about the upcoming year for a while before Sirius saw a familiar pink haired girl pass the window into the corridor.

"Well, I'm off for a bit lads."

"Who're you snogging these days mate?" James asked idly, messing up his hair as he pondered his next move in his chess game against Peter. "Have you moved on from Meadows?"

Sirius pulled a face. "Have you not heard about McKinnon and Meadows?"

"What?" James and Peter nearly fell out of their seats. "When the hell did that happen?"

"I'll fill you in later. Or maybe Remus will, he set them up after all."

"WHAT?"

Sirius nonchalantly left after dropping his gossip bombshell; heading the opposite direction from where he'd seen Esther pass by. Glancing casually into each compartment, he found who he was looking for.

Just last year, all five of the Baier siblings had ridden the train in the same compartment. Robin Baier had his arm carelessly thrown over nervous-looking Femie's shoulder as he gave her advice for her first year. Clemens was helping Satchel with her abysmal chess strategy (while winning by a hilarious margin). And Luca herself watched her brothers and sisters with unmistakeable affection.

The scene this year couldn't be any more different.

"Hello beautiful," he said, sliding the compartment door open.

"'Lo Sirius," Luca said from behind her book.

"Hello beautiful to you too, Black." Across from Luca sat her friend Simon Foy, who was looking him up and down teasingly. "You just get more gorgeous every year."

Simon was a sixth year Ravenclaw; tall and lanky with short, dark blonde hair and deep blue eyes. He had a rather hawkish nose, with wire glasses perched on the end. It was easy to mistake him for a geeky, Ravenclaw stereotype at face value; a mistake that Sirius hadn't made twice.

"It's a gift," Sirius shrugged. "How are you lot doing?"

"Better now that we're heading to Hogwarts," Luca marked her place in her book, took off her glasses, and turned to face him. "You?"

"Pretty much the same." Sirius closed the compartment door and sat down next to Luca. He took in the freckles scattered across her tanned nose and cheeks. Her almost-cartoonish big brown eyes met his; his palms were sweaty, and he couldn't think of anything to say. His heart was pounding and he was having trouble ignoring the feeling that he wasn't feeling very much himself. Luckily Luca just smiled at him as if she didn't notice and broke the silence for him.

"I heard your friend Lupin made prefect. I suppose that's to keep you and Potter in line?"

"Yeah, that's not going to work and he knows it." Sirius laughed, trying desperately to make himself relax.

"You lot are going to need the laughs this year anyway. O.W.L.s this year." Simon teased, "I know that's the only way I made it through last year was you and fucking Potter just fucking shit up whenever you felt like it. And the parties."

"It's our civic duty, truly."

"Well, thanks for that, mate!"

"So what's your brother doing now that he's out of school?" Sirius changed the subject, grinning at Luca.

"Well, I imagine he'll be pining for me now that the summer is over," she rubbed on her collarbone, a nervous habit that always had the adverse effect of making Sirius's tongue feel like sandpaper. "But you know him. He wants to get into some kind of care of magical creatures. He was going on and on about dragons at the beginning of the summer, but he's been talking to some witch about breeding unicorns for the past couple of weeks."

"That's so cool," Sirius said in earnest, "He's always been good with animals. Even before school."

"Do you remember that party? At my family's summer home? When we were like seven?"

"When he brought that niffler home from the woods?"

Luca laughed, throwing her head back. "That idiot. I swear. I'd never heard Walburga scream like that."

"Well, lucky you," he said, grinning. She smiled sympathetically at him, her brown eyes bright with the ghost of her laughter.

"Do either of you have the time?" Simon said awkwardly, forcing Sirius and Luca to turn away from each other.

"It's half past 4."

"Shit, I'm supposed to meet someone for a snog like half an hour ago."

"Merlin, Simon. You met _someone_ for a snog a couple hours ago." Luca looked aghast at her friend.

"I'm in demand these days, darling."

"You're a slut these days, darling." Luca called after him as he left the compartment with a laugh.

"I think he's just meeting my brother." she said in a stage whisper, making Sirius laugh again.

"How are your parents taking _that_ news?"

"Oh, about as well as when Robin was sorted into Hufflepuff. I'm sure they thought _he_ would be the gay one after that, but," she paused, biting her lip, "it was a rough summer for Clemens."

"My mother was _mortified_ when she heard; your family have been making waves in the entire Pureblood society. Mum's gone on and on about how embarrassed she is for your parents." He paused to give her a disgusted look. "I don't doubt that they've been intolerable."

"Lucky for Clem, Robin and I won't stand for their bullying anymore. We outnumber them at home anyway. They spent most of their time praising Femie for the sun shining out of her ass."

"Oh, I'm definitely familiar with that. Reg made the Slytherin Quidditch team _reserves_ last year."

"Oh, ew." Luca scrunched up her freckled nose, "I don't know if you _heard_ but Femie Baier passed all her first year exams. Forget Robin's SIX N.E.W.T.s or Clemens' SEVEN O.W.L.s. First. Year. Exams." she smacked his knee between words for emphasis before laughing again.

"I wonder what it's like to absolutely hate your children." Sirius said airily.

"I don't plan on ever finding out." Luca said sternly. "When I have kids, they're going to be the light of my fucking life. Even if they're in Slytherin."

"Even Slytherin? I'll avoid that possibility all together. I'd never marry a pureblood. I want no chance of that bloody ideology infecting my future kids."

"Well that would do it," Luca smiled, not quite letting it reach her eyes as she turned to look out the window.

Sirius didn't notice; Luca's blonde cat had chosen that moment to jump from the overhead compartment on to his face.

"ARGH!" he shouted standing up as Luca yelled, "CYRIL!" But barely a moment later the cat had jumped off Sirius and onto the empty seat he'd previously been sitting. He blinked up at Sirius with his pale green eyes and meowed innocently.

"I'm so sorry, he's such an awful brat." Luca stood up and took his face in her hands, "Let me see. Did he scratch you?"

"N-No, I don't think so." Sirius felt his face burning under her fingers as she inspected him for injuries. "Just a heart attack, no biggie."

He felt his face go even hotter when Luca ran her thumbs over his cheeks, finally meeting his gray eyes with her gaze.

The compartment door banged open, causing the pair to jump apart. They turned to the door to see James Potter and Esther Perkins.

"You still haven't changed into your robes?! It's getting dark out there, we'll be arriving soon." Esther was talking to Luca, as Sirius had already changed. But she was smirking knowingly at Sirius.

"I thought you were coming back, mate. I'm tired of beating Peter at chess, come play me."

"I guess I'll have to see you later, Black," Luca ran her hand down his arm and smiled.

"Absolutely Baier," he grinned right back at her.

As he left with James, who was babbling on about something, he heard Esther ask, "Did we just interrupt something?" but he wasn't able to hear Luca's reply as the compartment door slammed shut.

James was absolute rubbish at chess. Sirius beat him twice in the hour before they reached the castle. He was in a foul mood but his friends, who were rather used to his moodiness, had decided to ignore it and continued their conversations while he silently played chess. Once they had made it inside the castle however, he couldn't stop his spirits from lifting.

He positioned himself at the Gryffindor table so that he was facing the Ravenclaws, but he didn't see Luca yet. Or Esther.

"Do you reckon there'll be chicken? And shepherds pie? I'd kill for some shepherds pie right about now." Peter babbled as his stomach audibly growled. James laughed heartily, definitely exaggerating the sound as he watched Remus talking to Lily Evans out of the corner of his eye.

"Is there ever _not_ shepherds pie, Pete?" Sirius had finally spotted hot pink hair and was tracking her progress into the Great Hall, looking for Luca.

"Remember the great shepherds pie famine our second year, mate? Dark times that." James said solemnly, closing his hazel eyes and placing his hand over his heart. Peter snorted.

Sirius finally spotted Luca; she was sitting facing him, across from Esther and Simon who's backs were to him. She was looking rather upset, which concerned him, but he thought of her brother being gone. That made sense.

She had her elbow on the table, head leaning on her hand, clearly not listening to Esther or Simon. She'd let her hair down at some point, and her long brown curls formed curtains around her face as she continued to pout.

But then she looked up and made eye contact with him.

His first thought was panic. However she just grinned and waved at him. He felt like his brain was moving through mud as it commanded his hand to respond. He grinned sheepishly and returned the wave.

"Who are you drooling at?" James practically yelled in his ear as he put his face next to Sirius's to follow his line of sight.

"I'm not drooling," he turned indignantly to his friend, "I don't drool."

"Tell that to your pillows, mate," Peter mumbled, mostly to himself. James threw his head back and laughed. Even Sirius let out a bark of laughter; Peter usually wasn't so quick on his feet.

A moment later, the doors of the hall opened and the first years were led in by Professor McGonagall.

"What are the chances you can die from eating too much?" James asked as they made their way to the common room after the feast.

"What are the chances you're going to stop asking me that after every feast?"

James ignored Sirius. "I've reached that threshold. I'm probably only moments from death. Tell Evans I loved her, will you?"

"I don't fancy getting slapped, so you'll just have to live."

James laughed, but then held his stomach as he groaned in pain.

"We're nearly there. We'll make it to bed and you'll eat twice as much in the morning. Fanged Frisbee."

"Where'd you get the password?" Peter asked in wonder.

"Our best mate is a prefect, you idiot." James cautiously let out a chuckle.

"Oh yeah."

They climbed the stairs to their dormitories slowly; James kept pausing for the stitch in his side. He finally quickened his pace when Sirius suggested he wasn't fit enough for Quidditch this year.

Sirius wasn't going to admit it, but he could definitely feel the effects of the feast by the time they made it to the dorm. He was already in bed with the curtains pulled when Remus returned from his prefect duties.

"How are the first years?" James asked from the other side of the room.

"Horrible. They're scared of everything."

Sirius could hear Remus rummaging through his trunk.

"You did bring the _Gryffindor_ students up, didn't you Moony?" James asked in mock horror.

"Now that you mention it, they must've been Hufflepuffs." Remus deadpanned, causing James to laugh and then groan again.

"Remind me to never eat again."

"Hey, can I see the map?" Sirius poked his head out of the curtains.

"I've been prefect for a grand total of three hours. Can't you at least give me twenty-four of being good at this job, mate?"

"I'm not going anywhere," as if to offer proof, Sirius yawned loudly, "I just want to see it."

James grumbled as he got out of bed and dug through his trunk.

"Thanks, mate." Sirius disappeared back into his bed, but not before catching the confused look James and Remus shared. He ignored it, pulling out his wand. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." He said before lighting his wand tip. After a moment, he found Ravenclaw tower and zeroed in on the dorm he was looking for.

Luca was pacing; Esther was sitting on her bed, presumably listening to her friend. Sirius laid down and watched the progression, finally falling asleep when Luca herself climbed into bed.


	2. Chapter 2

"You're going to be late _again_ if you don't get a move on." Esther's voice led Luca back from dreams of summertime to consciousness. The room was freezing. She pulled the quilt tighter around her head.

"It's too cold. I'm not going."

"It's only October, how are you going to make it to Christmas if _this_ is too cold?"

"I'll just live in here, yeah? Will you bring me my homework and let me copy your notes?"

"No, I'd rather see you suffer. And you gave me _hell_ when I needed your notes that day I was hungover. _I'm_ off to breakfast, and I'm not bringing you coffee today."

Luca tentatively poked her head out from the covers after the closing door, fighting every urge to crawl back under until the sun was properly up in the sky. Her hand felt around her bedside table until it grasped her wand. A quick heating charm on the stone floors, and she was out of bed, though still shivering.

She washed her face and combed her hair quickly before returning to her bed to dig her warmest pair of socks out of her trunk. When she was dressed and her bag was packed she stopped to examine herself in the mirror.

Her wool socks came up to her mid-thighs, looking a little more like lingerie than she intended, but her legs were considerably warmer. She was wearing two Ravenclaw sweaters under her robes, as well as her scarf. She knew she'd look ridiculous, but frankly, she didn't care. She was wondering if she should lengthen her skirt like those stuffy Slytherin girls did (she always shortened it, despite the telling off she'd received from Professor McGonagall last term) when she caught sight of the clock and immediately took off down the stairs at a run.

By the time she reached the Great Hall, the first bell had rung and students were filing out. She attempted to squeeze through against the crowd for a moment before realizing she couldn't be late to class and storming off to the History of Magic classroom. She ended up as one of the first to arrive, taking her usual seat in the third row.

"Are you feeling better?"

She didn't acknowledge Esther when she sat down next to her.

"I did bring you coffee, you know," Esther said testily. "I'm not a monster."

"Oh you absolute angel!" Luca cried out, grabbing the mug from her friend, "I'm sorry about earlier, Merlin's Beard, I'm so glad I keep you around."

"S'not that big a deal, settle down," Esther looked around, embarrassed as more classmates filed in.

"You didn't happen to grab any toast though, did you?"

"Here," came the voice of James Potter, as he slid into his desk on Luca's other side, reaching into the pocket of his robes, "I always keep some, I get peckish before lunch."

"Now I just feel spoiled," Luca laughed as she pulled a piece of lint off the toast before taking a bite. "Cheers, mate."

"You haven't hexed that, have you?" Esther asked tentatively. Luca immediately started coughing, and the classroom erupted in laughter.

"It's only Monday morning," James explained once everyone had settled down and gone back to their business, "Only _Slytherins_ deserve pranks on Monday mornings."

Esther was about to reply when Professor Binns soared in and calling the class to order.

It didn't take long for everyone to start daydreaming; Binns' lectures were notoriously dull. Esther had all but fallen asleep on her desk, and Luca was pulling apart the fibers in the feather of her quill when James slipped a note onto her desk.

 _Are you coming to our Halloween party?_ - _J.P._

She looked back over at James, who was staring blankly towards the front of the classroom with his perpetual smirk on his face. Picking up her quill, she wrote back.

 _Is this your idea of an invitation, Potter? -L.B._

He let out a breathy laugh at her response before scribbling a reply.

 _I'm afraid I've run out of my usual formal stationary, please forgive me. Also please come to our Halloween Party. Sirius would be intolerable if you don't show up.- J.P._

That's odd. She looked around the room. Sirius hadn't even bothered to show up to class today.

 _Why would Sirius be intolerable if I wasn't there? -L.B._

She slid the note back onto James's desk but before he read it, it was snatched away by Lily Evans.

"You're distracting me," she hissed from the desk behind Luca before turning back to Professor Binns.

"Come off it, Evans, we're just catching up," James adopted an almost sleazy, deeper voice when he talked to Lily, "Unless you're concerned that I've lost my affections for you, darling, I promise I haven't."

"Leave her alone," Luca cautioned. Lily's face was turning red, her tell that she was about to explode. Lucky for her, before he could say another word, the door to the class slowly opened, revealing Sirius Black and sufficiently distracting James.

Sirius nearly crawled across the floor towards James, though he needn't have bothered. A cauldronful of dung bombs could go off in Binns' classroom and he would've droned on.

"You could've woken me; you know?" Sirius hissed at James, sliding awkwardly into the desk behind him. Appraising him out of the corner of her eye, Luca noticed he really did look like he'd only just rolled out of bed. There were dark circles under his gray eyes and his usually perfect hair had a distinct, slept-in look to it.

"I tried, you idiot. We all did. Maybe _you_ shouldn't stay out so late." James muttered back.

"I was back by 3…I think. Close enough. Bloody hell, I'm starving. You have any breakfast, Prongs?"

"No."

"No? What do you mean _no_ , Prongs? You always have something edible hidden in those robes."

"You're not the only one missing breakfast, Padfoot. Baier had a late night too."

"I did not!" Luca exclaimed, a little louder than she intended. She lowered her voice. "I was studying"

"A likely story, Baier, we all know you're too smart for studying and too beautiful to not be snogging someone."

Luca blushed furiously at James' comment but didn't reply, returning to tearing apart her quill instead.

"That's the look of a guilty conscience. Anyway, who _were_ you with last night? Because at this point I think you're running out of girls to snog."

Sirius gave his friend a pained look, but James still stared at him expectantly. He muttered something that only James could hear, but it didn't matter.

"MARY MACDONALD?"

Luca whipped her head to the right where the blonde Gryffindor was sitting behind Esther; her face was a deep red as she glared at James.

"Keep your voice down, Potter. Have you no tact at all?" Sirius laughed under his breath, shooting a wink at Mary who turned an impossibly darker shade of red as she slumped down in her chair.

James opened his mouth to reply, but was stopped by Lily's hand making sharp contact with the back of his head.

"Merlin, Evans! What was that for?"

" _Some_ of us are trying to _learn_ …"

"20 points from Gryffindor." Apparently Professor Binns _could_ be distracted. "Try and keep quiet during my lesson Potter, Evatt."

Lily Evans was livid. Her anger rolled off of her in waves, making everyone around her squirm uncomfortably. She'd packed up as soon as the lesson was over and fled the classroom.

"Nice one Potter, really." Luca threw her bag over her shoulder.

"What? It's not like I did it on purpose." He shrugged his shoulders, "She'll be over it by dinner, I'm sure."

"You'd better hope so," Luca called back to him as she left the classroom with Esther, "I'm meant to be studying Potions with her in the library tonight."

Lily was not over it by dinner as it turned out, nor was she over it by the time Luca, dragging her feet, met her in the library. The redhead kept tutting and shuffling through her notes, her mind obviously elsewhere.

"Do you want to talk about it or do you want to keep taking it out on your parchment?" Luca said softly after Lily had put another hole through her essay.

Lily blinked her green eyes, staring at nothing for a moment before turning her gaze to Luca.

" _How_ can you be friends with him?" she asked frankly.

"Well, I don't know." Luca smiled, "I've known Sirius since we were in diapers. Any friend of his is a friend of mine."

"But he's so- He's just such a- He's _horrible_."

"Nah, he's not all that bad. Immature, annoying, and downright intolerable sometimes, yeah. But he's alright, really."

"He doesn't have a weird obsession with you though," Lily pressed on, "he's always trying to get my attention just to annoy me."

"That's not what happened this morning though," Luca reminded her.

"I needn't have smacked him, I know." She paused, looking pensively about the library before smiling back at Luca. "It felt good though."

"There you go," Luca laughed, "Let the memory of smacking James Potter carry you to the next time he's insufferable."

"Which I can only imagine will be tomorrow." The tension that surrounded Lily was rapidly dissipating. After a moment, Luca broke the silence.

"Is it safe for me to ask you what the hell any of this rubbish means? I'd really like to pass my potions O.W.L."

Lily giggled and set to work explaining the calming draught; the tension was officially gone.

"You are coming tonight, right?" James jogged up with Luca after lunch on Halloween. She'd been bundling up to head out to the greenhouses for Herbology.

"Of course," she said as she pulled on a pair of blue mittens, "I've asked Simon to come with me, Esther said no, as usual. I'll check that he still wants to come, but I should be there."

"Brilliant. See you later then." James said simply before abruptly running back off in the opposite direction to catch up with the rest of the Marauders. Luca waved at the four of them, laughing when Sirius missed a step as he returned her wave.

Pulling her cloak tightly around her, Luca set off across the grounds. Unfortunately, two people she had no desire to talk to quickly caught up with her.

"What are you doing talking to Potter?" Severus Snape nearly hissed at her. She fought off a groan. Ever since she'd started spending time with Lily last year, Severus had felt more comfortable talking to her than she liked. Their exchanges were often accusing and volatile. And today he'd brought Rosier with him.

"It's really not your business."

"Potter is a bloodtraitor," Rosier said simply, sounding every bit like a caveman he so resembled. "Someone might get the idea that you are too."

"I'm sorry, I thought that was already the idea." Rosier bared his teeth, but Snape ignored their exchange.

"Were you and Potter talking about Lily?"

"What? No. And it wouldn't matter if I was."

"I knew it." Snape's beady black eyes flashed dangerously, "I knew you don't care about being Lily's friend. You're just trying to get her to date that idiot."

"Do you have any idea how stupid you sound?" Luca spat, speeding up and wrapping her fingers around her wand in her pocket. The pair of Slytherins kept following her. They'd reached the greenhouses, she just needed to get to greenhouse four. They'd be too scared to try anything in front of a professor. "Leave me alone, I don't want to talk to you."

"You bitch, don't walk away from us," Rosier moved to pull out his wand.

"Oy!" Luca breathed a sigh of relief. Up ahead, Esther had managed to catch sight of her. "What are you doing, talking to her like that?"

"It's just our little joke," Rosier said, running his massive hand over Luca's hair as she held back the urge to vomit. "Isn't it, _bitch_?"

"Detention," Esther's prefect badge shined on her chest, "I'll be speaking to Slughorn about this."

"Good luck, _mudblood_." With that he shoved past her, into the greenhouse, with Snape scampering to keep up with his hulking form.

"You okay?" Esther turned to her friend once the Slytherins disappeared behind the greenhouse door.

"Yeah, of course. You?"

"Takes more than a snob to tear me down. What was all that?" they moved into the greenhouse, sitting at a table with their fellow Ravenclaws.

Things were tense in the castle, exacerbated by the constantly sharpening divide between the two prevalent schools of thought. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were seeing their lowest enrollment in centuries while the number of Gryffindors and Slytherins nearly doubled. Slytherins in particular were constantly trying to recruit other students to the causes of the outside world. Even older Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs tended to travel in groups to avoid confrontation, which could be sparked by nearly anything.

"It's stupid. Snape's still convinced I'm not _really_ Lily's friend," Luca whispered, "He saw me talking with Potter about his party just now and then he went nutters. I think Rosier just likes confrontation."

"Merlin, they get worse every year."

"They get closer to war every year; we all do." Luca said solemnly. They sat silently until Professor Sprout began the lecture.

"Should I really wear this?" Luca stood in front of the mirror staring at her outfit from every angle. It was a tight fitting, black bodysuit with bones painted on. It had been perfect when she'd bought it in Hogsmeade, but now she just wasn't sure. She'd let Simon do her makeup too. Half her face was an intricate skull design while the other half was his signature favorite, heavy "party makeup" that he'd insisted on.

"Don't get all self-conscious on me now, Baier, you look fabulous." Simon said from the bed, sporting a similar face of makeup, "Can we get going? Clemens has probably already been there an hour."

"Are you two dating yet?" Esther asked from behind her book.

"She speaks!" Simon pulled out his bottle of Firewhiskey, "That's another shot each."

"At this rate I'm not going to make it out the door." Luca took the bottle from him and took a tiny sip. "Let's go before I lose my nerve."

"Have fun studying Esther." Simon called over his shoulder.

"Have fun you degenerates." She called back as Luca shut the dormitory door and went down the stairs with Simon.

"Why did you agree to come with me if you're just going to be interested in my brother?" Luca asked once they'd successfully snuck past the small party in the Ravenclaw common room.

"You asked first," he shrugged, "I don't suppose you were looking to snog me though, I'll give you a hint. I'm not very interested."

"Thanks, Simon, I get that. But you're not to let me do anything stupid."

"What, like hook up with a Marauder?" she glared at him and he grinned, "Don't act like you couldn't have any of them at the drop of a hat; they adore you."

"That's ridiculous. James has got his thing with Lily, Remus hasn't so much as looked at a girl this year, and I've known Sirius far too long."

"What about Peter?"

"If I so much as looked at Peter I think he'd wet himself."

Simon roared with laughter, no doubt more thanks to the Firewhiskey they'd been drinking for the past hour than to her joke. "You're _horrible_." Luca shrugged, but the corners of her mouth twitched upwards.

"Are _you_ ever going to ask Clemens out?" Luca asked after they'd fallen silent. The click of her heels was momentarily the only sound in the stone halls of the castle before Simon replied.

"It's a little more complicated than that right now."

"Why?"

Simon shot her a look she knew well. It was the look he gave her when he felt she was being particularly dense. He started explaining like she was a child. "Your family are purebloods. You lot live under some weird societal microscope. _Everyone_ knows what the Baiers are up to. Now, it's one thing to _say_ you're gay but to actually _date_ someone of the same sex…" he paused, wetting his lips. The sound of music was soft but growing louder as they got closer to the Gryffindor common room.

"I'm going to wait on him. When he's ready, we'll be together for real. And that's okay for me right now."

Luca smiled and took her friends hand. He gave the password to the Fat Lady who swung open, obviously indignant that so many non-Gryffindors were in the tower.

"Simon," she squeezed his hand, "What the hell is a microscope?"

The music in the common room was loud, but Simon's bark of laughter was louder, drawing the attention of James, who was nothing if not a magnet for noise.

"Baier! You made it! You look awesome!" he was dressed as a pirate; the three of the Marauders she could see were dressed as pirates. Luca spotted Remus and Peter talking to some fourth year girls but didn't see Sirius anywhere.

"Oh hush, you knew I would." Luca waved him off with a grin. "You know Simon, yeah?"

"Of course, excited to play you this year. Interested to see how Ravenclaw fares without Spinnett."

"You and me both. Tryouts were a disaster. But I didn't tell you that." Simon laughed, "Monroe has heart but we just might not have the talent."

"Ah, well, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw do get the short end of the stick these days. I still wish you were in Gryffindor. We could really use a new Seeker now Patil has left."

Luca wandered away as the topic of Quidditch continued on. She spotted her brother, who was very red in the face, having a spirited conversation with Lily Evans, who was looking rather pink over what looked like a glass of Elder wine. She nodded at them when they waved at her but she made her way to the drinks table.

How the Marauders hadn't been expelled, Luca couldn't pretend to understand. What she did know is that they were always, _always_ , able to find unspeakable quantities of alcohol for their parties. Varieties of wine, whiskey and Butterbeer littered the table and, though nobody seemed anything less than tipsy, it almost looked untouched.

Luca poured herself a generous glass of Firewhiskey before turning back to the room. She finally spotted Sirius (dressed as a pirate like his friends) with Mary MacDonald in a corner by the stairs. They seemed to be fighting; Sirius looking exasperated while Mary looked near tears.

This wasn't an uncommon scene; Mary was very upset that Sirius didn't want to be her boyfriend. Luca found this to be very naïve of her. Sirius Black had never had a girlfriend that she knew of. He fancied himself a bit of a heartbreaker, which made nearly everyone who knew him roll their eyes.

He caught her staring and sent her a weak smile. Unfortunately for him, this small exchange didn't pass unnoticed. Mary's head whipped around to see Luca. Her eyes narrowed before she turned back on Sirius, pointing her finger in his face accusingly.

Not wanting anything to do with that drama, she downed nearly half of her drink and made her way over to Remus and Peter.

"How long do you suppose before MacDonald actually explodes?" she asked them as she settled down between them on the couch. Peter seemed to have lost the ability to speak as he stared at the spot where his thigh was touching hers, but Remus snorted into his bottle of Butterbeer.

"I don't suppose you want in on our betting pool?" he said, throwing an arm around her shoulders. "James has ten galleons it'll last at least until next Friday but I don't think they'll make it through the night."

"That's terrible!" Luca exclaimed before glancing over at Sirius again. Mary was definitely sobbing now; Sirius was looking wildly uncomfortable. "I think you're about to be coming into some money soon though, mate."

"James really should've learned by now." Remus shrugged before draining the last of the bottle, "You need anything, love? A drink? A snack? A snog?"

"A snog wouldn't go amiss," she knocked back the rest of her glass, "but I suppose a new drink would be nice." Remus disappeared momentarily but didn't leave her to awkward conversation with Peter for too long.

When Remus returned, he filled her in on the goings on of the party that she'd missed, which had unsurprisingly included an epic shouting match between Lily and James.

"I haven't had a chance to commend you for setting up those two." Luca nodded towards Dorcas and Marlene, who were very passionately snogging in the opposite corner. Remus grinned.

"I'm rather surprised with that stroke of genius as well."

"You're going to be the one to get Lily and James together, I just know it."

" _If_ that actually happens, I'll definitely be the mastermind." Remus said smugly as he took another sip of Butterbeer. "Hey! It looks like MacDonald just won me some money."

Luca turned to where he was pointing and saw Mary wrapped in the arms of Frank Longbottom, a Sixth Year Gryffindor.

"Yeah, yeah, rub it in Moony," came a voice from behind them and they turned to see Sirius holding a glass of Firewhiskey in each hand.

"Oh hush, you love the drama," Peter finally chimed in. Luca and Remus snickered as Sirius's eyes narrowed.

"Anyway, I was hoping to borrow you Baier, if these idiots can spare you."

"Oh, but Remus promised me a snog!"

The three of them on the couch burst into giggles while Sirius rolled his eyes before wandering away.

"We'll rain check that snog then, love," Remus finally caught his breath, "Just go see what that moody asshole wants before he spends the rest of the night sulking."

Luca leaned over and kissed Remus on the cheek before pulling herself off the couch to look for Sirius. She spotted him after a moment, as he moved from away from the drink table with an additional drink held precariously in his teeth. Moving quickly through the crowded common room, she caught up to Sirius as he started climbing the stairs to his dorm.

"Hey grumpy, where are you off to?"

He turned at her voice and grinned. She reached up and took the cup out of his mouth.

"You wanted to borrow me?"

"Yeah, come on up, it's too loud in here."

For a fleeting moment, Luca was concerned about the gossip that would surely follow them up the stairs. But looking into Sirius's pleading eyes pushed all of her misgivings aside. She followed him up six flights of stairs to reach the fifth years' dormitory.

"Sorry about the mess," he called over his shoulder as he moved to his bedside table to set down his drinks. Clothes were scattered impressively across the room, along with books and spare bits of parchment.

"Is this a day's worth of mess? Or are the House Elves on strike?" Luca laughed as she took a sip of Firewhiskey.

Sirius flashed her a lopsided grin before diving into his trunk. "Isn't Perkins your only roommate? Try living in a room with six other blokes before you judge the mess."

"Fair enough." Luca moved towards his bed, setting down her own drinks before sitting on his unmade bed. "So now you've gotten me alone…"

"Don't act like you don't know."

"Well I'm not acting."

Sirius rose from behind his trunk with his hands behind his back and moved to sit next to Luca.

"Just because Robin's not here singing it from the rooftops doesn't mean I'd forget your birthday." He presented her with a small square box wrapped in brown paper.

"You didn't!" Her face lit up in a full on smile. "My family didn't even remember! I mean, obviously I got a letter from Robin, but… Merlin, Sirius!"

"Well come on then, open it."

She took the box from him tenderly and carefully unwrapped it. She opened the box to reveal a delicate silver bangle with an "L" charm. "Wow." She whispered as she pulled it out of the box. "Sirius! This is. Wow."

"Come on now, you're going to make me blush." He looked away, trying to hide the smile that'd broken out across his face. She leaned into him playfully before straightening up and turning to face him.

"Help me put it on then." She dropped the bracelet into his hand and holding out her left arm. Slowly, he reached up and fastened the clasp around her wrist. He watched as she examined it before lifting her eyes to his.

"Merlin, Sirius, it's beautiful." Without warning she launched forward and wrapped him in a tight hug. He wasn't sure how but his body reacted before he'd had a chance to process, wrapping his arms around her. He felt his cheeks getting hot but he didn't want to let go. Slowly she pulled away, still smiling at him.

"I'm sorry about MacDonald, by the way. That's rough."

"Oh. Right. Thanks." He reached past her to grab his Firewhiskey before taking a long drink, "It's not like she was my girlfriend though."

"Right," Luca smiled knowingly but their conversation was interrupted by James bursting through the door.

"Padfoot! Sock on the door ple- oh it's just you Baier," something seemed to register in his brain, "Yeah! Baier! I was looking for _you_. We're having a dance contest and there's no way I can beat Moony without you."

Luca looked from Sirius to James. "Well I suppose I can't say no to that!" James let out a whoop before running back out of the room.

"Are you coming Sirius?" she looked at him hopefully.

"Nah," he yawned as he grabbed his glass, "I think I'm going to wallow in solitude a bit before bed."

"You poor thing," Luca smiled, "You know where to find me!"

He watched her walk away as he drained his glass while reaching for the second one.

"Oh, and Sirius," she'd stopped at the doorway before turning back to him, "Seriously, thank you for the bracelet. You're the highlight of my day."

Sirius was pretty sure his heart skipped a beat as she disappeared behind the closed door.


End file.
